BAT Takes Cigarette Packaging Fight To Aussie High Court

Law360, New York (December 1, 2011, 8:03 PM EST) -- British American Tobacco PLC on Thursday sued the Australian government in the country's highest court over a law requiring imported and domestic cigarettes to be sold in plain packages, arguing the measure is an attack on the company's intellectual property.

The proceeding before the High Court of Australia targets the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act, a law passed by the Australian Senate in November. The legislation mandates that cigarettes be sold in logo-less, brown packages labeled in a small, uniform font. The graphic images representing smoking-related illnesses...